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History of Spalding Hosiery Shoppe

The Spalding Hosiery Shoppe (a.k.a. The Sock Shoppe) was opened in 1936 by Robert and Gladys Futral. The store was in a garage stall across from the area's largest hosiery mill - Spalding Knitting Mills. Their philosophy was simple - offer people quality clothing at a reasonable price.

Sometimes simple ideas are the best.

During the week, Mr. Futral worked at the Spalding Knitting Mill. It was there that he learned all about socks and made connections which proved invaluable in the years to come. Mrs. Futral worked at the store selling - at really cheap prices - the irregulars and overruns created by the mill. On Saturday the store would open in the morning. It would close at lunch and Mr. Futral would travel to wholesalers in Atlanta to try and find bargains for the customers back in Griffin. On Saturday night he would return with his car loaded with merchandise and open up again to sell to his regular customers.

During World War II, stockings were not readily available because much of the fibers needed for production were being used for the war effort. Mr. Futral, through his connections with the mill, was able to get allotments of stockings. He was the only merchant in the area to have a supply and people came from all over the area to get their stockings. Although these stockings could have been sold at a premium to wholesale buyers, Mr. Futral wanted his customers to have them. He sold these stockings at pre-war prices and limited quantities to each customer so as many people as possible could get a pair of stockings.

To this day, we have children and grandchildren of these original customers shopping at our store. We love to hear the stories of past shopping trips to the Sock Shoppe.

From a garage stall we have become three stores with 88,000 square feet of retail space carrying a full range of products. Our buyers travel to Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and Las Vegas to find great deals to bring back to our shoppers. Our goal is to make shopping at the Sock Shoppe an adventure. We want our customers always to be surprised by what they find here.

We are now in the third generation of family operating the store. Our formula is still the same – sell quality products at a reasonable price.